Business travel planning advice
Travel Plans
A Travel Plan is a strategy to manage multi-modal access to a site or development (including workplaces, residential developments, leisure developments and schools), concentrating on promoting and encouraging access by more sustainable modes.
In many cases, a Travel Plan will be required as part of a planning condition; however, many schools and businesses choose to prepare their own plans; for example, in response to avoid problems associated with congestion and parking.
Indicative Travel Plan Thresholds
Below are indicative thresholds at which a Travel Plan would ordinarily be considered appropriate, particularly as part of a planning permission. It should be noted that a wide range of other circumstances may require a Travel Plan for smaller developments, for example where transport network conditions are already congested, or where localised impacts associated with the development are otherwise particularly acute.
| Land Use | Indicative Threshold | Requirement |
|---|---|---|
| Residential | 100 units | Travel Plan at Planning Stage, followed by Residents’ Welcome Packs upon Development Completion. |
| Employment | 2,500 sq.m additional floor space | Travel Plan at Planning Stage (or Framework Travel Plan for multi-occupier developments). Ongoing monitoring required. |
| Mixed Use Development | Case-by-case | Framework Travel Plan at Planning Stage. Ongoing monitoring required. |
| Education Development | All new build or extension | Travel Plan at Planning Stage, followed by ongoing monitoring. |
| Other Developments, e.g. Garden Village | Case-by-case | Travel Plan at Planning Stage (or Framework Travel Plan for multi-occupier developments), followed by ongoing monitoring. |
Travel Plan Monitoring
Monitoring your Travel Plan will help you to identify the progress made towards meeting your objectives and targets. It will also help you to identify priority initiatives for your Travel Plan in the next period. You should aim to monitor progress at least once a year (if your Travel Plan was written as part of a planning condition or S106 agreement then you will have agreed to submit an annual monitoring report to Cheshire East Council for a period of five years).
You will need to report progress to your steering group, employees, and the local Planning and Highway Authorities if the Travel Plan is being developed to discharge a planning condition. You should clearly identify review points for your Travel Plan at an early stage in the Travel Plan process.
Travel Plan monitoring submissions may be subject to a Monitoring Fee to reflect the time required for Cheshire East Council to review documentation and provide appropriate advice. You should contact the Cheshire East Council Highways Development Management team for guidance on whether a monitoring fee would be applicable at: highwaysdm@cheshireeast.gov.uk or 01270 686 369.
What support is available?
Cheshire East has produced a number of toolkits to support businesses through the process of developing a Travel Plan.
